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Brief Synopsis

A sportswriter and a fashion designer have a lot of adjusting to do when they marry in haste.

At the Beverly Hills Hotel, after a long night of drinking, sports writer Mike Hagen is hung over and anxious because he cannot recall writing his New York Record assignment that was due the previous evening. When fashion designer Marilla, whom Mike does not recognize, informs him that they actually wrote the story together and then attempts to return the $700 Mike paid her for her help, Mike, charmed by the spunky woman, insists that they spend the money together vacationing in California. After a whirlwind courtship, the couple marries and returns to New York, where Mike abandons his small, cluttered apartment for Marilla's East Side abode, site unseen. While packing Mike's apartment, Marilla finds a picture of woman caught in a seductive pose, but disregards it to avoid any conflict. At the newspaper office, editor Ned Hammerstein warns Mike that crooked boxing promoter Martin J. Daylor has placed several calls threatening Mike's life because of the reporter's articles about Daylor's racket. Later, Mike lunches with his previous girl friend, actress Lori Shannon, and announces his recent marriage. Lori soon grows angry at Mike's effusive descriptions of Marilla and tips a plate of ravioli in his lap. As Lori storms out of the restaurant, Marilla arrives and suspects the accident was caused by something other than his carelessness. After changing into a pair of short busboy pants, Mike returns with Marilla to her upscale apartment, where they walk into a surprise wedding shower thrown by Marilla's friends. Mike is embarrassed by his attire and contemptuous of the ceremonious gentility of the actors, artists and designers who surround Marilla while ignoring him. The only guest to befriend Mike is Broadway producer Zachary Wilde, whom Mike shuns when he realizes Zachary is Marilla's ex-boyfriend. Later, Marilla apologizes for her friends's behavior and tearfully defends her job to a stunned Mike. For several weeks the couple are quite happy while managing to keep their professional worlds apart. Then one night, Marilla attends a boxing match with Mike, where she is overwhelmed by the brutal fight, Daylor's threats and informant Charlie Arneg's demands for more money for information. The following week, Mike and his cronies gather at the apartment for their weekly poker game while, in another room, Marilla holds a reading of Zachary's musical, for which she has been chosen to design the costumes. The evening turns into a fiasco when dimwitted ex-boxer Maxie Stulz scares Marilla with his violent boxing stories and choreographer Randy Owen accidentally upturns the poker table with his wild dance steps. After everyone leaves, Mike mocks Randy for his effeminate behavior, but the dancer suddenly returns and offers to fight Mike over the incident. Marilla jokes that Randy is as punchy as Maxie, thus relieving the conflict. Days later, Mike attends Marilla's haut couture fashion show and finds Lori, the musical's new star, at his wife's table. Both he and Lori act as if they have never met, but when Mike bolts from his chair thinking Lori is about to dump her food again, Marilla becomes suspicious. During a subsequent rehearsal, Marilla finally concludes that Mike and Lori have had an affair when she recognizes Lori as the woman in the seductive picture. Meanwhile, at Marilla's apartment, Johnny O and several other Daylor henchmen try to force Mike to stop writing the articles by punching him. When Marilla walks in, Mike makes an excuse for his bloody lip and introduces the henchmen as his friends. After they leave, Marilla admits to previous romantic relationships hoping Mike will acknowledge his relationship with Lori, but Mike does not confess. When Marilla accuses him of lying, Mike denies the affair and leaves abruptly. At the office, Ned suggests Mike hide out to evade the gangsters while finishing his exposé on Daylor's boxing racket. He assigns Maxie to protect Mike, ordering the boxer to punch anyone who looks "cross-eyed" at Mike. After telling Marilla that he is leaving town to follow the Yankees, Mike checks into a seedy hotel with Maxie. On the couple's first night apart, Mike contends with the over-protective Maxie, who sleeps with his eyes open, while Marilla fantasizes that Mike is continuing his affair with Lori. The next day, Marilla begs Zachary to interrogate Lori, but Zachary asks the actress to dinner instead and later assures Marilla of Lori's innocence. Over the next few weeks, Mike calls Marilla from the hotel, claiming to be in various cities, while he continues to write about Daylor. Meanwhile, at Daylor's hangout, the racket boss has deduced that Mike is hiding in New York and sends his henchmen to find him. One night, when Marilla calls Mike and threatens to confront Lori herself, Mike tells her to do so. Mike then tricks Maxie into falling asleep, slips out of the hotel and rushes to Lori's apartment. He has concocted a story about how he and Lori briefly met, thus explaining the picture, but Lori assures him that Marilla will not believe the lie. Suddenly, Marilla arrives at the apartment, forcing Lori to hide Mike in her bedroom. As Marilla enters the apartment, Lori's poodle jumps into her arms, disarming her, but when the dog later comes out of the bedroom carrying Mike's shoe, Marilla follows the dog back to Mike. Outraged by his betrayal, Marilla runs from the building. Meanwhile, Maxie wakes up and, finding Mike gone, loudly calls his name out in the lobby, where Charlie overhears him. Upon locating Mike, Charlie, who has discovered that Daylor plans to kidnap Marilla during the opening night of the musical in Boston, offers to sell him the information. After Charlie tells him about Marilla's danger, Mike places a call to the Boston stage to warn her, but she ignores his pleas. While Maxie and Mike catch the next plane to Boston, Lori, whose costume Marilla is aggressively altering with her scissors, finally admits to the affair with Mike. She suggests to Marilla that she accept Mike's story because he is only trying not to hurt her. Marilla leaves the dressing room satisfied that her husband meant no harm and longs to reunite him. When Johnny O suddenly appears, Marilla, still assuming he is one of Mike's friends, accepts his offer to take her to Mike immediately. Mike and Maxie arrive just as Johnny and several other henchmen are forcing Marilla into their car. When a fistfight ensues, Mike yells "cross-eyed," inciting Maxie to punch everyone, including Zachary and the stagehands who are trying to help. Randy then leaps into action, knocking out all the henchmen with his acrobatic footwork and thus establishing his masculinity. When Mike finally tells Marilla the lie about his relationship with Lori, she lovingly accepts it as a token of his true devotion. Months later, Zachary and Lori are happily engaged while Maxie continues to insist he is making a comeback. With Daylor behind bars and his underworld business destroyed, Mike and Marilla enjoy their marriage and each other's differences.